Heather Hapeta lives in Aotearoa: real travel, real adventures, real stories, real photos
Tag: sculpture
Once voted Wellington’s favourite sculpture, Solace in the Wind, by Max Patte is often ‘dressed’ for the season or event.
It’s a popular spot for photos – perhaps people like to be pictured with a naked statue!
Grab a free map of the sculpture walk to see these, and many more great pieces of art, Wellington’s Botanic Gardens.
I took these photos on a recent walk … and thought others may like to see them. Take the cable car from the CBD up to the gardens and wander around these lovely gardens.
Backpackers, cruise ship passengers, and especially us locals all love Solace In the Wind.
He is often dressed with all sorts of clothes according to the season or event
By sculptor Max Patte. Solace in the Wind is on the Wellington waterfront beside Te Papa. It is a two-metre-high iron figure leaning forward into a cross-harbour gale with eyes closed and arms held back and locals ( and I suspect his creator also) often dress him in clothes appropriate to the season or occasion – I will do a photo blog of some of them one day.
Christchurch Art gallery has a Ron Mueck exhibition, opening tomorrow (2nd October 2010 – 23rd Jan 2011), and I had a sneak preview today.
According to Wikipedia Mueck “began his career working on Australian children’s television programs, and his early career was as a model maker and puppeteer for television and films, notably the film Labyrinth for which he also contributed the voice of Ludo, and the Jim Henson series The Storyteller.
Mueck moved on to establish his own company in London, making photo-realistic props and animatronics for the advertising industry.
In 1996 Mueck transitioned to fine art, collaborating with his mother-in-law, Paula Rego, to produce small figures as part of a tableau she was showing at the Hayward Gallery. Rego introduced him to Charles Saatchi who was immediately impressed and started to collect and commission work. This led to the piece which made Mueck’s name, Dead Dad, being included in the Sensation show at the Royal Academy the following year.
In 2002 his sculpture Pregnant Woman was purchased by the National Gallery of Australia for AU$800,000.”
The rest as they say is history. I found the exhibition challenging – interesting, fascinating, almost disturbing. While the sculpture of his dead father was acceptable, as soon as I turned the corner, there is a mask of the artist. really large and although I wanted to touch the life-like face – of course I didn’t touch and nor should you … this is strictly don’t touch show.
Mueck ‘s sculpture played with my perception about scale. The smaller forms, like the old ladies, although amazing, didn’t challenge me like the extra-large pieces. They were challenging and I felt I was being intrusive – intruding into a personal space. Make sure you see it too – I don’t want to put more photos here or it may spoil the experience.
Tell me what you think. Love it; hate it; or? Leave a comment.
